In the Hall of Longevity, the Empress Dowager sucked in a deep breath to ease her haggard breathing.
Consort Liu sat at the Empress Dowager’s left hand, face drenched with tears.
“It was Luo Wei?” The Empress Dowager asked.
Consort Liu answered, “My older brother said so.”
The Empress Dowager, “What else did he say? Tell me everything from start to end!”
Consort Liu made a face as if she was afraid.
“Tell me!” The Empress Dowager shouted.
Consort Liu knelt on her knees in front of the Empress Dowager, speaking quietly, “My older brother said that the Emperor’s behavior towards Luo Wei is beyond strange, he said that this child was intelligent to the point of being monstrous, that he can’t be kept around.”
“He can’t be kept around?”
“My older brother said that our Grand Imperial Mother has seen Luo Wei, and she must remember that she’d seen this face some thirteen years ago.”
The Empress Dowager took in another cold breath. Of course she knows who Luo Wei looks like. She’d never forget that face as long as she lived. Luo Zhi Jin. If it weren’t for that woman, why would Emperor Xing Wu hate the Rei Mu clan so? He’d killed them all, not even caring that his body carried half of the Rei Mu bloodline.
“Grand Imperial Mother,” Consort Liu called out to the Empress Dowager carefully. Liu Shuang Shi had only given her one last message. Luo Wei cannot be left alive, they must borrow the Empress Dowager’s hand.
“Luo Wei is the Senior Chancellor’s son,” The Empress Dowager laughed unexpectedly, “It sounds like your brother is brave enough to say just about anything.”
“Grand Imperial Mother!”
“Enough,” The Empress Dowager said, “You may leave.”
Consort Liu had said all she had to say. She knew well enough how much the Empress Dowager hated Luo Zhi Jin. It was because of this that the Empress, the Crown Prince, and the Luo family had been thorns in her side. It didn’t matter if Luo Wei was or wasn’t Luo Zhi Jin’s son now, as long as the Empress Dowager believes he is, there was no way that she’d let him go free. Consort Liu quietly exited the Hall of Longevity. She couldn’t save her own family, but she would make sure the murderer gets what’s coming.
The Empress Dowager sat under the lamplight. Luo Zhi Jin. Luo Zhi Jin! She’s nothing more than cold bones in the earth now, but her spirit still wouldn’t disperse!
“He was the one who caused Zhi Jin’s death!”
Emperor Xing Wu’s raging words rang in her ears again, twisting the Empress Dowager’s expression into something cruel. Was Luo Wei her son? Did that cheap whore really give birth out of wedlock? Was the emperor that generous of a man, enough to shower his lover’s son with someone else with affection and favoritism? Disciple of the emperor, companion during the audiences, long stays in the Hall of Eternal Light… The Empress Dowager obsessed over these details. Had any princes enjoyed so much blatant favor from the emperor? No. Not even the crown prince, Long Yu! Other than Luo Zhi Jin, had her son ever been so good to anyone else? Was it because Luo Wei looked like Luo Zhi Jin? Was it because he was Luo Zhi Jin’s son? No, not that, it couldn’t be any of those reasons. Unless he was the emperor’s son! Unless he was the son that Luo Zhi Jin bore with Emperor Xing Wu!
All the things she couldn’t understand before became clear in an instant. The Empress Dowager somehow began laughing. That slut! She was the one who caused the rift between the Empress Dowager and her son, the emperor. She was the one who caused the deaths of the Rei Mu clan, some five hundred strong. And now her son was stirring up a storm in the court too! With the Liu family gone, who else could protect Long Xuan? The Empress Dowager felt her heart twist in pain as she thought of Long Xuan. She’d brought him up herself. She couldn’t sit still while Long Xuan drifted further and further from the throne.
Luo Wei can not be kept around. If he can’t be kept around, then he must be gotten rid of!
“Your Grand Imperial Highness,” The old servant maid, Matron Zhang, walked up to the Empress Dowager carefully, “What is the matter?”
The Empress Dowager dipped her finger in her cup and wrote two characters down on the table, “I need to get rid of this one.”
Matron Zhang quickly spoke when she saw the name on the table, “But Luo Wei is the Empress’ own nephew, not to mention that His Imperial Majesty has taken a shine to him. If Your Grand Imperial Highness were to hurt him, then your relationship with His Imperial Majesty…”
“He doesn’t even think of me as his mother anymore,” The Empress Dowager spat the words out, “Am I supposed to beg at his feet?”
“Then… then what would you like to do?” Matron Zhang asked.
“Kill him… No,” The Empress Dowager thought of Luo Zhi Jin, the hatred in her voice could no longer be controlled as she spoke, “I want that slut’s son to suffer a fate worse than death!”
The pure malice in the Empress Dowager’s voice shocked Matron Zhang. She hung her head low, not daring to even lift her head to look at the mistress she’d served half her life.